Draft gear



June 3 1924.

s. w. KADEI.

DRAFT GEAR Filed June 13, 1923. 2 Sheets-Sheet l Patented June 3, 1924.

T OFFICE.

BYERS w. KABEL, or BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, As'srenon To THE T. H. sYMINeToN COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.,

A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

DRAFT GEAR.

Application filed June 13,

To @ZZ whom t may concern: 4 f

Be it known that I, BYnRs W.A KABEL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Baltimore and State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Draft Gears; and l do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The invention relates to an improved construction for connecting draft gears to railway cars having wooden center sills.

An object of the present invention is to provide a strong and reliable metallic reinforcement which can be readily applied to wooden underframe cars, said reinforcement providing a draft rigging pocket having stop members adapted to cooperate with the front and rear followers of the draft gear.

Another object of the invention resides in the provision of a metallic draft arm formed by the utilization of reinforcing angle members adapted to be connected to the wooden center sills, and the inclusion of depending draft members, said reinforcing angle'members and draft members beingv connected by a plurality of tie castings adapted to form draft rigging stops at the respective ends of the draft rigging pocket.

A further object of the invention is to provide a metallic construction capable'of being easily applied to wooden underframe cars, said construction involving reinforcing members for the center sills, dependin channels adapted to provide draft sills, and a plurality of flanged members adapted to bridge and tie said reinforcing members and draft sills, one of said flanged members being adapted to provide a reinforcing means for the end sill of the car and also form a front stop member for the draft gear, the other of said flanged members being advantageously disposed at the respective -ends of the draft rigging pocket for receiving the bufling and draft lshocks and Aeffectively transmitting the same to the car underframe. i The invention further consists in the combination and arrangement of the several parts which will be'hereinafter described.

In the drawings illustrating an embodiment of my invention, the scope of which is set forth in the claimsf- Figure l is a top plan view of a wooden car underframe illustrating my invention.

1923. Serial No.1645,197.

applied thereto, aportion of thefigure being shown in horizontal section.

Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinal sec-v tional .view on the line 2*-2 of Fig. 1';

Figure 3 is a vertical transverse sectional view on theline 3-8 of Fig. 2, viewed in the direction of the arrows@ Figure 4 is a similanview. on the liney 4 4 of Fig. 2, viewed inthe directionof the arrows. p p, Figure 5 is a view in end elevation showing the coupler shank in section..

kReferring to the drawings, in which corresponding reference characters indicatev similar parts in the several views, the wooden center sills l, 'l are reinforced by means end sill 5, it being suitably connected thereto by means of bolts 8.

Depending from the reinforcing angle bars 2 are the draft sills or members 9, said draft sills being shown in the formof channels the upper web of which is adapted to be riveted to the horizontal web of the angle bar and further secured to the center sills by means of the vertically disposed bolts 4. The lower web of each channel draft sill provides an attaching surface for the tie and stop members to be presently described. The draft sills are adapted to extend from the front end of the striking block 7 to a point immediately in front of the bolster 6, said draft sills being united at theirinner or rear ends by means of a tie plate 10 and at their front'ends by means of the carry iron l1. The draft sills, carry iron and striking block are adapted to be united by the vertically disposed bolts 12, the innermost of said bolts being positioned adjacent to and As shown, the draft gear in- 15, said key projecting into the usual elon- O'ated slots 16 provided in the draft sills. The front follower member 17 and the rear follower member 18 of the draft gear receive between them twin cushion springs indicated diagrammatically by the dot and dash lines in Figs. 1 and 2. The cushioning springs are retained between the followers by means of an upper plate 19 connected to the upsta-nding webs of the angle reinforcing bars, and a lower plate 20 connected to the bottom webs of the channeled draft'sills. A suitable spring spacer 21 may be interposed between the cushioning springs. The yoke at its rear'end may be provided with a suitable filler block 22 adapted to contact the real follower as shown.

The draft gear is adapted to be received into a draft rigging pocket which pocket is formed by the reinforcing members 2, draft sil'ls9, and a plurality of members adapted to bridge and tie ythe said reinforcing bars and draft sills at the respective front and rear ends of the draft rigging pocket. The tie members are preferably castings, each of which is adapted to be economically mannfactured and provided with a series of reinforcing webs or ribs. The tie members are disposed aboveand below the yoke and provide transversely extending stop lugs capable of receiving the vstrains incident to serv` iceconditions and transmit them to the center sills of the car underframe. As each of the tie members is of slightly different construction and is differently located, av description of each will be separately given.

The tie member 23 is located adjacent the car end sill 5 and serves to reinforce the same, said tie memberbeing provided with a rear upstanding wall 24 which forms one of the front stop members coacting with the forward follower 17. The upstanding walv 25 of the tie member is arranged adjacent the end' sill, said wall and the upstanding wall 24 beingintegrally united by the horizontal web26. A plurality of reinforcing ribs 27 is disposed longitudinally of the tie member between the respective end walls thereof, the outermost of said ribs constitutingI the side walls of the tie men'iber and being adapted to be connected to the vertical web of each of the reinforcing angle bars 2 by means of rivets 28. The tie member 23 is preferably cast andis arranged to bridge the center sills and firmly unite the same at 'the forward ends of the reinforcing members ai the rear end sill of the car. A reinforcingl tie casting of the type described provides a member of .maximum strength value and formsv a front stop through which the draft strains are effectively transmitted to the car underframe and particularly the center sills and end sill.

Coactin'gwith the upper tie and stop member v23 is a lower tie cestino' 29 said castinV p sa i c being provided with an end wall'30 arranged in vertical alinement withtheend wall 24 of the upper tie casting. An opposite end wall 31 is provided on said casting and between said end wall and the end wall is arranged an integral horizontal web 32 and a vertical web 33 which latter intersects the horizontal web centally thereof as shown in F ig. 3. rlhe arrangement of this web-y bing serves to reinforce the end wall 30 which acts as a front stop member for the forward follower 17. The horizontally disposed web 32 of the tie member 29 is con tinued beneath the `lower flanges of the draft members 9 and connected thereto by means of a plurality of rivets 34. The lower tie member 29 is of greater longitudinal length than the upper t-ie member 23, said tie meniber 29 being adapted to underlie the end sill of the car for a considerable distance, as best shown in F ig. 2.

An upper rear tie member 35 is arranged between the reinforcing bars and draft channels, said tie member being provided with an upstanding wall 36 against which the rear follower 18 bears. The upstanding wall 36 provides a rear stop for the follower 18, said wall being reinforced by a plurality of longitudinally extending ribs or webs 37 the outermost ones of which form the side walls 'of the tie member and are adapted to be secured to the vertical webs of the angle bars 2 by means of rivets 38. The longitudinally extending and vertically disposed ribs 37 are united at their rear ends by a transverse wall 39 and also by a horizontally dis-L posed web 40 integrally uniting the end wall 36 with said end wall 39..

Provided on the ianged and reinforced tie member 35 is a transversely depending rear wall portion, forming a continuation of the end wall 39, said transverse portion serving to unite the extending angular projections 41 which underlie the horizontal webs of the reinforcing angle bars and contact the inner faces of the draft members 9, as best shown in F ig. 3. The vertical flanges of the projecting angle portions 41 are connected to the web of the channel draft members by means of rivets 42.

The angular projecting portions 41 are lok cated sufficiently in rear of the yoke member to permit the free movement thereof.

Coacting with the rear tie and stop member 35 is a lower flanged member 43 adapted to bridge and unite the draft members and form a lower rear stop for the rear follower 18. The tie member 43 is provided with a wall 44 which is disposed in vertical alinement with the wall 36.0f the upper tie and stop cast-ing, said wall 44 providing a transverse stop member against which the rear follower bears. The wall 44 is reinforced` by a plurality of vertically disposed and lonn gitudinally extending ribs 45, said ribs prollO jecting upon either side of a horizontal web portion 46 uniting the lend wall 44 with the rear end wall 47. The horizontally disposed web 46 is'continued beneath the lower iiange of the channel draft members and is secured thereto by means of rivets 48, as best shown in Fig. 4. Portions of the outermost vertically disposed ribs 45 are preferably connected to the draft members by means of rivets 49, as shown in Fig. 2. Both of the c rear tie and stop members 35 and are preferably cast, the same being of comparatively light weight but of maximum strength value for receiving the shocks incident to bufling and effectively transmitting them to the draft sills and center sills and in turn to the car underframe.

T he replacingof the old wooden draft sills or timbers by a metallic draft arm constructed in accorda-nce with my present invention gives great strength to the wooden underframe and provides a strong and reliable support, draft rigging pocket or housing for the several draft rigging parts. It will be understood that the heavy loads are effectively transmitted to the center sills at points where the said sills are strengthened and reinforced, the present arrangement of tie members acting to prevent any tendency of the draft arm to buckle. It will be observed from my present construction that in addition to the foregoing advantages the superimposed tie members thus provide convenient front and rear stops between which a cushioning mechanism of relatively large capicity can be utilized.

' aving now fully described my invention, although it is to be understood that the terms employed are to be taken in their descriptive and not in their limiting sense, what I claim and desire to secure by'L-etters Patent is l. .ln a wooden underframe car, the combination with wooden center sills, of metallic reinforcing means for each of said sills, a metallic draft member depending from each of said center sills, and means including a plurality of members adapted to bridge and tie said center sills and draft sills together, said members being arranged to provide a draft rigging pocket in which the said members are adapted to act as front and rear stops.

In a wooden underframe car, the combination with wooden center sills, of metallic reinforcing members for each of said center sills, a depending metallic draft sill connected to an adjacent center sill and its reinforcing member, and a plurality of tie members adapted to bridge the center sills and draft sills, some of said tie members being` connected to the draftsills only, and another of said tie members being connected to the reinforcing members and the draft sills, and still another of said tie members being connected to the center sill reinforcing members, all of said tie members being arranged to face of an adjacent center sill, .metallic channel members providing draft sills, each having its upper flange secured to the horizontal web of an adjacent reinforcing angle member and to the center sill reinforced thereby, and means including a' plurality of castings adapted to bridge and tie said draft sills and reinforcing angle members together, said castingsl being disposed to provide a draft lrigging pocket in which the said tie members act as the respective front and rear stops of the draft rigging.

4. In a wooden underframe railway car, the combination with wooden center sills, of reinforcing means therefor, depending metallic draft sills, upper and lower` tie members adapted to bridge said reinforcing means and draft sills and form front stop members for the draft rigging, and lower and upper tie members bridging the reinforcing means and draft-sills and providing rear stop members for the draft rigging, said last named upper tie member being provided with opposite offset portions adapted to underlie the center sills and reinforcing means therefor and be connected to said draft sills.

5. The-combination with a railway car having wooden center sills, end sill and bolster, of a reinforcing metallic member connected to each of said center sills and extending beyond thebolster, a depending metallic draft sill connected to the reinforcing metallic member and wooden center sill, and a plurality of tie members bridging the draft sills and center sills and forming a draft rigging pocket, one of said tie members being arranged adjacent the end sill and disposed to provide a reinforcement therefor and also a front stop for the for ward follower of the draft rigging.

6. The combination with a railway car having wooden center sills, end sill and bolster, ofpa reinforcing nxetallic member connected lto each of said center sills and extending beyond the bolster, a depending j having Wooden center sills, end sill and bolster,k of a reinforcing metallic member connected to each of said center sills and eX- tending beyond the bolster, a depending metallic draft sill connected to an adjacent reinforcing metallic member, said draft sill extending to a point adjacent said bolster7 means for tying the inner ends of said draft sills together at their bottom means including a plurality of tie members adapted to bridge said draft sills and be connected thereto at their bottom faces, the lowermostl of said tie members providing, respectively, front and rear stops for the draft rigging, and at least one of the uppermost tie members being connected to said draft sills and underlying the said reinforcing` members and center sills`r said last named tie member providing; a rear stop member for the draft rigging.

faces, and' reinforcing member and center' sill, and a: plurality of metallic tie members adapted" to bridge said draft sills and center sills and form a draft yrigging pockety eac-li of said tie members being proiided with -a series of reinforcing ribs, said ribs being disposed longitudinally yof the draft krigging pocket and reinforcing the inner opposed faces of said tievmembers which provide front and rear Istopsfor the draft rigging. `f

ln testimony whereof l a'lhx my signature.

.ternes W. KABEL. 

